The Good Man
by actionman81
Summary: Skinny Steve and Agent Carter have to stop Hydra with only their wits. Can they defeat Red Skull in time?
1. Chapter 1

1943

New York

"Please don't do this. We have time. We can work it out" Peggy Carter smiled sadly at Steve Rogers, one hundred and ten pounds, who stood in Dr. Erskine's laboratory. She reached out and took his bony hand in hers  
"Right now, I'm in the middle of nowhere" he glanced around the now empty room, "If I wait any longer, a lot of people are going to die" he referred to the people he couldn't save, couldn't help, by being the super soldier that they were counting on. "Peggy, this is my choice" he sighed. The experiment, Project Rebirth had failed. Despite the doctor's best efforts, as well as Steve's, he had emerged from the metal cocoon the same he'd always been- a good man, but nothing more.  
Peggy said nothing. What could she say?  
Steve tried again "Agent Carter?" he looked up at her  
"I'm here" she sighed, meaning that she was present, emotionally.  
"I'm going to need a rain check on that dance," he smiled, trying to mask his emotional pain  
"All right; A week next Saturday at The Stork Club," she forced a smile, denying everything, just as he was.  
"You've got it," he replied. Would he even be in her life, a week from today?  
"Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late; understood?" she instructed  
"You know, I still don't know how to dance" he shrugged  
"I'll show you how. Just be there."  
"We'll have the band play something slow. I'd hate to step on your-" his voice trailed off. He sighed and turned around, and faced away from her. It was no use delaying the inevitable.  
Peggy Carter stared at the small, slight, man who now had his back to her her. Why couldn't he see that he was already a super soldier in her eyes?  
"Wait Steve" she called as he took a few steps away  
Steve turned around, an expectant look on his face  
"You don't have to go" she smiled, "perhaps in lieu of that dance, we can do something else?"  
"Sure" he grinned, "I'd love that"  
Their conversation was cut off as an explosion rocked the facility. Peggy sprang into action, while Steve joined in the fight. Peggy chased the saboteur, Heinz Kruger, until he hopped into a stolen taxi cab. Peggy stood in the nearly empty New York street and deftly aimed her pistol at the cab. A single shot was all it took. The car careened into a wall, and the assailant tumbled out like a rag doll.  
"Who are you? Who do you work for? Who sent you?" Peggy grabbed him by his coat lapels and shook him  
He smiled, "When you cut off one head, two more grow in its place" he bit down on a concealed Cyanide pill. Foaming at the mouth he gave a raspy cry, "Hail Hydra!"  
Then he was gone.  
Peggy let the lifeless corpse fall to the pavement, "Bloody Norah" she cursed, angry at herself that she couldn't find out more information  
She walked back inside the facility, only to find Dr. Erskine dead, a large shard of shrapnel lodged in his chest. Steve knelt by his side, "I have to make this right" he looked up at her, "He was the only one to give me a chance" he sighed, "Well, not the only one" his eyes seemed to convey the message that was unmistakably obvious.  
"We'll do everything we can" Peggy knelt across from him, Dr. Erskine's body lay between them, "Right now, I really need you to come with me. You've had a terrible shock, and"  
"No" he was firm  
"I beg your pardon?"  
"No, I can't – I – I have to fix this. I have to – I can't just leave things like this"  
"And what would you have done? Chased after the assailant? Beat him to a senseless pulp?"  
"I'd have done something" Steve was resolute  
"I'm sure you would have, but even the topmost trained agent couldn't stop him"  
"Like you?" the sarcasm was thick in his voice  
"Steve" Peggy softened her tone, "It's a terrible blow, and I know it hurts, but this isn't the way to make things right"  
"And what is?"  
"Agent Carter" Colonel Chester Philips now stood behind her, "Please bring this private and come with me"  
Peggy stood and faced her commanding officer, "Yes, sir" She turned to Steve, "come on"  
He got up and followed her as they walked behind Phillips  
Once they'd reached his office, he shut the door and spoke directly to them, "Agent Carter, I've got an assignment for you. It seems that Johann Schmidt has captured some of our men. I want you to go light a fire under his ass"  
Steve sensed that this wasn't something that Phillips naturally considered, putting women in the front lines  
Phillips seemed able to read the younger man's mind, "Desperate times call for desperate measures" he explained to her, "Ordinarily, I'd send in a team of crack shot soldiers to get the job done, but I'm hoping that you and a team will be enough"  
"A team, sir?" Peggy asked for clarification  
"Yes" he frowned at the question, "I've got a team in mind"  
"If you don't mind, sir" Peggy straightened her shoulders, "so do I"


	2. Chapter 2

"You can't do this. It's – it's suicide" Steve tried to talk some sense into her. They stood in the barracks where just a night ago, Steve had very nearly shared schnapps with Dr. Erskine.  
Peggy glared at him, "I'd expect you to understand what I'm feeling, what I'm going through, because you've been there, too"  
"I do" he sighed, "I really do, but this isn't the way. I want you to be safe"  
"Safe?" she looked at him with an expression of incredulity, "I suppose you expect me to be like that woman Lorraine, who sits behind a desk and flirts with the passing GIs?"  
"I—uh – no, of course not" Steve stumbled over the words. "What can I do to show you that I support you, a hundred percent"  
Peggy looked Steve up and down, sizing him up, "Come with me" she finally said.

"No" Colonel Phillips glared at the two  
Steve glanced at his shoes  
Peggy stared ahead at her commanding officer, "Sir, with all due respect, Rogers has proved himself intelligent, persistent, and he cares so much about his fellow soldiers that he'd risk losing his life for them" she cited his good qualities  
"That may be" Phillips sighed, "but he's still ninety pounds, soaking wet" he scoffed, "Look at him"  
"I am, sir" she countered, "and do you know what I see? Perhaps not a perfect soldier, but I see a good man"  
Steve colored, remembering Dr. Erskine's words. He flashed a quick smile toward Peggy. She didn't notice. She was concentrating on her conversation with Phillips.  
Phillips saw Steve's mouth twitch. Either he chose to ignore it, or didn't bother commenting. But it didn't escape his sight.  
Phillips sighed, "Regarding this rescue mission" he pointed to a map on the desk, "They're thirty miles behind the lines. Through the most heavily fortified territory in Europe. We'd lose more men than we'd save. But I don't expect you to understand that-"  
"I understand that just fine" Peggy glared  
"Then understand this. I'm asking this, probably against my own better judgement, because from what I hear, you're the best we've got right now"  
"Thank you, sir" she nodded  
"That being said, taking this private along with you seems tantamount to strapping a ball and chain on yourself and trying to escape Alcatraz"  
"With respect, sir, I don't regret trying to complete this mission, especially with Private Rogers' assistance"  
Phillips frowned, "What makes you think I give a damn about your opinions. I'm taking a chance with you, Agent Carter. And now there's a high probability that a lot of good men are dead, all because you had a crush."  
"It isn't that, sir. I have faith."  
Phillips sat down, leaving Carter and Rogers standing behind the desk, "I'll fill you in after one hour. Go pack your gear. You'll need it"  
As they walked back to the barracks, Steve turned to her, "What do you plan to do? Walk to Austria?"  
"If that's what it takes."

The small plane, a Beechcraft Model 18, flew over Europe. Steve looked warily at scientist Howard Stark, who was seated in the captain's position, and flew the aircraft.  
"Isn't he going to be in a lot of trouble at the lab for flying us out?" Steve spoke to Peggy, but stared at Howard.  
Peggy saw Steve's gaze, "Howard's the best civilian pilot I've ever seen"  
"Too bad you can't stop over in Lucerne for a late night Fondue" Stark called back from the pilot's chair. He was talking to Peggy, obviously.  
"So" Steve began, "You and Stark—do you—you know—fondue?"  
Peggy rolled her eyes and readjusted her parachute. Steve and she were both dressed in regulation olive drab gear, had parachutes strapped to their backs, and were decidedly weighed down with equipment- ammunition and firearms for her; rations and medical supplies for him. Phillips had been adamant about not issuing Rogers firearms, "He'll shoot his eye out"  
Before she could answer Steve's misguided question, Peggy turned her head towards the gunfire coming from below. She stood and headed to the open exit  
"What are you doing?" Howard called back  
"Just turn around after we're gone" she took Steve's hand and motioned for him to stand as well  
"Hey, we're supposed to fly all the way in"  
"You can't order me around" Peggy snapped  
"I—" Steve sighed. What could he do, he was a private.  
"Oh my call, we jump" Peggy instructed, "on three"  
"Ok" Steve nodded, "Right"  
The bullets whizzed dangerously close to them. Howard veered the plane away from the gunfire  
"Ok-" Peggy counted, "Three!" she took his hand and they jumped out together.  
They freefell for what seemed like hundreds of feet, and then Peggy motioned for him to pull his parachute's ripcord. They floated the last remaining meters and landed in the woods.  
Heavily camouflaged convoys rolled by several feet away, but Peggy and Steve were unnoticed. They ditched the parachutes and made their way though the woods toward the Hydra location. There it stood, like a factory of death, a cold steel structure in a vast clearing.  
Peggy took the lead, and sprinted towards the convoy line. Steve followed, doing his best to keep pace with her. Peggy reached up and pulled herself into one of the convoys. "Hallo" she smiled at the Hydra agents who stared at her though gas masks and green jumpsuits. She punched one in the face, shattering his mask's goggles, then took him by the scruff of his neck and used his head to bash the second agent in the face as well. She then tossed both men out. By then, Steve had caught up with the truck and Peggy reached out, took his hand and hoisted him into the truck's covered bed.  
The truck rolled along after the convoy, past the gates, into the compound. When the truck finally stopped, Hydra soldiers standing behind the rear entrance to the facility pulled back the tarp covering the truck. Peggy punched them, two at a time, using both fists. Steve was in awe. What could he do to help?  
Peggy grabbed his hand and pulled Steve though the annals of the building, past advanced technology, as they hid behind air or gas tanks that were the size of load bearing pillars. Steve looked up with awe at the structures, and stared at the technology. He pulled back for a moment, and snatched a handheld device that was about twice the size of a lighter. Deftly, he slipped it into his pocket. Peggy, on the other hand, was set on freeing the soldiers. Whenever a Hydra operative came here way, she punched him out, kicked him clean away, or bashed his head in using the butt of a rifle she'd taken from a previous Hydra soldier. She was apparently trying to use as few bullets as she could, not for any peace making mission, but to keep the sound of their arrival as quiet as possible.  
A final guard fell to the ground, as they found the prisoners. An African American soldier looked up at them through the ceiling grate, "Who are you supposed to be" he looked at the gorgeous woman who'd waylaid their captors  
"Agent Carter" she beamed down at them.  
Peggy hopped off the cell and unlocked their door. Dozens of men rushed out.  
"Huh, so we're letting all of you out?" a mustached soldier, Dugan, stared at the Asian, Morita  
"Hey buddy, I'm from Fresno" he retorted, showing his dog tag  
Steve mentally counted the men as they shuffled and ran past him. One was missing, "Bucky, where's Bucky?"  
Peggy looked at him for clarification, "Barnes, the guy I was with when I enlisted"  
"I'll find him" she was serious  
"No, you get them to safety" Steve countered, "I'll find him"  
Before she could stop him, Steve rushed off into the darkened hallways of the lair.  
Peggy pushed the men forward, and urged them on. They didn't have to be told twice.

Steve raced through the hallways, desperately wanting to call Bucky's name, but knowing that to do so would be tantamount to suicide. Surely, Hydra agents would hear his call and shoot him on sight. He ducked behind pillars and against walls, doing his best to hide from the enemy. Fortunately, his small size and stature made him easy to be overlooked, especially in the dark.  
As luck would have it, Steve found Bucky, strapped to a chair in what looked like a testing laboratory of sorts. "Bucky, it's me"  
"Steve?" Bucky seemed out of sorts; He had odd burn marks on half his face, and something was lodged in his mouth. Steve yanked it out so Bucky could speak  
"What, how?" Bucky was still disoriented  
"It's a long story" Steve's nimble fingers unstrapped Bucky's restraints and he helped the larger man to his feet. Unable to support him, Steve grabbed Bucky under his arms and dragged his friend out of the room, down the hallway. He walked backwards, remembering the turns he's taken to find the room in the first place.  
"Oh, thank God, Peggy. I thought I wouldn't find you" Steve breathed a sigh of relief  
"Hello, American soldier" Johann Schmidt stared down at him when Steve turned around.

Peggy and the prisoners of war, who had called themselves the Howling Commandos ,apparently based on their impromptu leader, Dugan's habit of screaming "Wahoo" whenever he felt like it, made their way through the facility, until they came to a transom, more like a bridge, a walkway over a long drop into the building. A door on the other side meant freedom. They were nearly halfway across the bridge when the other door opened, and Schmidt walked through, holding Steve by the scruff of his neck, and Schmidt dragged Barnes with his other hand. He smiled, "Agent Carter" and dropped the two men onto the Bridgeway, "I have heard so much about you" he kicked Barnes across the bridge towards them. Dugan and Carter helped Barnes up. "I see Dr. Erskine failed" he laughed, "No matter, you see, in the end, I was his greatest success"  
"You?" Steve looked up from the ground at the grinning man  
"And you? Tiny, weak, American. What can you do? Will you give up against the power of Hydra?" Schmidt grabbed Steve's arm and pulled him up, so the men were eye to eye. Steve's feet dangled a good foot off the ground  
"I can do this all day" Steve spat in the German's face.  
With his free hand, Schmidt wiped his face, and something shifted under his skin. Suddenly, he thrust his hand over the edge of the walkway's safety rail. Steve glanced down. The drop would kill any mortal man, and most definitely him.  
"Stop" Peggy shouted  
Schmidt looked at her, but kept his arm where it was, "So, you care for this man?"  
Peggy glanced at the Howling Commandos, "I do" she confessed  
"And it would pain you to watch him die?"  
"Don't listen to him, Peggy" Steve shouted, "It's not worth it, I'm not worth it"  
"Yes you are" she spoke under her breath. She took a step forward  
"Do you care more for him, than for your misguided attempt at freedom?" Schmidt laughed  
"Let him go" Peggy barked  
"As you wish" Schmidt released his hand. Steve fell out of view, past the guardrail.  
Peggy gasped. For a moment, she couldn't breathe. She swallowed her emotion and pushed forward, "Now, men!" she instructed. Together, she and the Howling Commandoes charged ahead. They grabbed Schmidt as a mob and were ready to throw him over the edge of the walkway  
"No" Peggy instructed, "bring him with us"  
The men trooped out of the facility, carrying a now-trussed-up Schmidt over their heads like a Hawaiian luau pig ready for the coal pit.  
Peggy held back, and looked over the guardrail. She wanted to break down and cry, but a voice told her not to.  
"Hey, a little help would be nice" Steve shouted  
Peggy looked down. Steve was holding onto the metal walkway, the floor of which they'd been standing on, with a single hand. Peggy immediately knelt, reached out and grabbed his wrist. She hauled him up through the widely spaced guardrails. They knelt on the metal transom together, staring at each other, "Thanks" he was breathless  
"Of course" she smiled  
She pulled him into a hug. It was of course perhaps one of the worst times to do so, but then, there was no time like the present.  
They released each other after a moment, both smiling, and walked out into the night air.  
A veritable fistfight had broken out on the compound. Howling Commandos, and other prisoners were fighting Hydra soldiers at every turn. Schmidt was nowhere to be found  
"What the bloody blue blazes happened?" Peggy spoke her concerns aloud  
"He got away" Dugan shouted and then bashed two Hydra soldiers ' heads together  
Steve and Peggy looked at each other, "The airfield" they said in unison  
"Come on" she grabbed his hand and they raced towards the hangar


	3. Chapter 3

Schmidt was stepping into a futuristic looking stealth jet.  
"Stop!" Steve shouted  
Schmidt smiled and boarded the jet.  
Peggy reached the jet first and narrowly missed being crushed by the swinging door. She was locked in with Schmidt.  
"So, Agent Carter, I have heard so much about you" Schmidt smiled, and walked towards her. Peggy braced herself against the back of the door. There was no latch to open it. Even if she had been able to, the tumble from the plane, still in the hangar, would've injured her.  
Schmidt walked toward her, "Why don't we see what you can do, my little American girl?"  
"I'm not your girl" she punched his face  
Schmidt took the punch and looked away, due to the blow. He turned his head back toward her, and stared her down. "No matter" he left her where she stood and flipped some switches on the craft's console. The jet hummed to life.  
On the ground, Steve scurried under the jet, which looked ready to take off. Most airplanes like this were equipped to bomb plots of land, and as such, should have a bomb hatch, Steve theorized. He found one, and small as it was, he was able to drag himself through. That training at Camp LeHigh paid off.  
He got there just in time. Peggy was backed up against the main door, while Schmidt was piloting the craft. He glanced down through the open hatch. The ground was zooming past him as the craft picked up speed.  
"Steve" Peggy whispered, clearly both surprised and pleased that he was there, "Stay out of sight. There's no telling what he'll do. I'll handle things" she was firm  
"No. I can't let him do anything to you" Steve was adamant  
Schmidt heard that. While the aircraft moved tilted upward, he spun around and spied Steve and Peggy, "Oh, we have a little stowaway" he smiled. Again, he walked up to Peggy, but looked at Steve this time. "And what will you do, little tin soldier?" he gave Steve a rough shove that sent the smaller man flying to the back of the jet. Steve slammed into some boxes and supplies. Schmidt wasn't the only force behind the shove. The momentum of the plane carried Steve part of the way.  
"Now" Schmidt turned to Peggy, "be a good girl and sit quietly, so I won't have to kill you" he slipped his gloves off and reached forward to touch her face. Before he could, she gave him a swift knee to the solar plexus. Schmidt lurched back a couple of steps. "That was a mistake" he rushed a step toward her and gave her a resounding slap on her face with his bare hand. Peggy's head snapped to the side from the force.  
From the back of the airplane, Steve watched with horror at what transpired. He looked around and found a crowbar lying on the floor. He snatched it up and stealthily made his way toward the Hydra leader. Steve aimed the crowbar at Schmidt's neck, but suddenly, the man turned, sensing what was happening behind him. Steve's crowbar hooked Schmidt's face, but instead of bleeding, the Hydra man's face simply tore like cloth.  
"Now you know" he shrugged, and proceeded to remove his face, revealing a hideous visage that was more skull like than fleshy, all in a deep red hue, "Dr. Erskine said there would be side effects, but in the end, I was his greatest success!"  
Peggy glanced at Steve, "I suppose you're glad things didn't work out with you?"  
Steve stared at Schmidt, now transformed into something else.  
Schmidt paid Steve no attention and shoved Peggy hard, knocking her off her feet. He turned to check the flight controls. They were hundreds of feet up in the air by now.  
Peggy grabbed a gun off one of the wall racks and fired at Schmidt. He spun around, bleeding from his back. The wounds hadn't affected him as much as she'd hoped. He lurched forward.  
Steve thought on his feet. He reared the crowbar back, like a baseball bat and swung, not at Schmidt, but at the glowing cube that powered the aircraft. Schmidt looked on in horror. With the white cube off its setting, the craft took a sharp nosedive.  
"You!" Schmidt shouted and the craft plummeted, "Look what you've done" he jumped for the cube as it rattled around the floor of the jet like a pinball. He reached out and touched it, but the intensity of the piece was too much, and the cube burned a hole through the jet's floor. Schmidt fell headlong, still holding the cube and he disappeared in a blinding flash of white light.  
Peggy and Steve looked at each other. The plane was now in a new trajectory, heading towards the east coast of the United States. It would hit New York City before long, if not Rhode Island first. They had to do something right away.  
"We've got to find a way to land this safely" Peggy rushed to the control console. It was badly damaged. The earlier gunfire had blasted away buttons, even a whole panel of the console.  
"There's not going to be a safe landing" Steve was grim. He looked over the now faulty controls, "I can try and force it down"  
"We can contact Howard" Peggy picked up the radio  
"There's not enough time" Steve frowned, "this thing is moving too fast" he looked at the course trajectory as it flashed on the undamaged panel portion, "It's headed toward New York" he looked at her, "Consider it a battlefield decision"  
"Then I outrank you" she glared at him, "You're smart, you didn't let Hodge get the best of you. Use that brain of yours"  
"If we could change the course trajectory" he mused aloud with his hands on the controls. The plane was still hurtling through the sky and a breakneck pace  
"We can" Peggy placed a hand on his, "There has to be a way to reroute this thing"  
Peggy knelt on the floor of the craft. Steve looked down, "What are you doing?"  
"Not what you think, dirty boy" she rolled her eyes and pulled away the cover off the lower half of the console, "I'm trying to see how the electrical system can be reconfigured to allow control" she ducked under the control panels and fidgeted with some wires. "See if you can control the plane now" she called from under the console  
Steve pressed some buttons and tried the control handle. The plane jerked upward.  
"Hey!" he shouted at the realization  
"Splendid" Peggy reemerged from under the console, "Now let's get this thing home"  
"But won't it blast New York with the bombs?" he glanced back at the unmanned explosives  
"I have an idea" Peggy headed to the back of the craft.  
They were still flying over the Atlantic. There were virtually no islands or other land masses. Peggy knelt next to each bomb, opened a hatch on every device, and deftly unhooked wires from the aerial bombs so they were in effect impotent, if not defused. She then reopened the hatch that Steve had climbed through to board the flight. Peggy pushed the now duds through the bomb hatch and watched as they fell harmlessly toward the ocean.  
She walked back to Steve, who was piloting the craft toward the east coast of the United States. She stood by him, literally and figuratively. They were nearing the coastline now, and she could make out the landmass like a growing dot on the horizon.  
Steve frowned, "The control stick" he shook it, "It's jammed"  
"We'll make it work" she placed her hands over his, and they pushed and pulled on the rod, in hopes of steering the craft.  
The coastline loomed closer. They could make out the Statue of Liberty.  
Steve looked over at Peggy. Her eyes were riveted on the coastline, her hands still covered his on the flight control, "If we don't make it-" he began  
She glanced at him, "We are going to make it" she was firm  
He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, and looked out at the coastline as it came nearer and nearer.  
With one final push, they forced the control handle forward and piloted the plane downward. The jet lurched toward the water, precariously close to the east coast.  
Moments passed, and they felt the surge of water around them. The jet crashed into New York Bay, past Ellis Island. The airplane was sinking further and further with each passing moment. Steve and Peggy tried fruitlessly to open the locked doors. The plane filled with water through the open bomb hatch. Steve wasn't sure he could squeeze through a second time, not with water rushing into the cabin. He felt something in his pocket. It was the device from the Hydra base. He fished it out of his pants, and showed it to Peggy. Neither was sure what it did. She took it from him, and aimed it at the craft's windshield and pressed the button.  
A blinding laser blast shot out from the device, shattering the windscreen. Water rushed in. Peggy dropped the device and grabbed Steve's hand. Together, they swam out the gap from the now missing windshield, out of the plane. They made their way underwater until they reached Ellis Island and came ashore onto the landmass.  
"We made it" Steve was breathless. He looked at Peggy. They were both soaking wet. Her hair draped over her face. She pushed her hair back with one hand. Behind her, they could both hear a commotion. People seemed to be clamoring, having seen the plane crash, but for the moment, they were leaving the pair alone.  
"We did" she smiled, out of breath, "We've got to find a telephone, and call Howard"  
"Oh" Steve looked dejected. Maybe fondue meant what he thought it did, after all.  
"We've got to find a way to get back to SSR labs, or did you plan on walking back?" she wore a wry smile  
"If you're with me" he breath came out in ragged pants, "I'll walk to the ends of the earth." A beat passed between them. Another as well. Finally he spoke, "There was something I wanted to ask you, Agent Carter"  
She looked around. Crowds of people were gathering, having seen the flight crash into the ocean, "I think" she smiled, "You can call me Peggy, now" she took his hand, "Steve"


End file.
